[VogueParisLover]

I want to start my own magazine in the early future and I was wondering how to do it. I don't live in a major city and I don't have a big budget. It's not going to be a magazine like Vogue Paris, it would be kind of like prim. magazine. Thanks.

[VogueParisLover]

Opps, sorry about title. It's only supposed to be "Starting Your Own Magazine". I was just trying to make the title bold. Embarrassing!

[lemon.mermaid]

i've been wanting to start a magazine in the future. i'll probably start on online magazine as of now. i've learned a lot from here. thank you!

[kimberwyn]

Im working on starting a print magazine with a couple of colleagues, and I have a few questions about the PR side of things. We're doing a bridal mag and we'd like to have runway photos of the gowns, and product shots of everything else (head pieces, jewelry, make up, decor, etc). Whats the best way to go about approaching PR companies about getting these shots of their clients products? And will they ultimately get insulted if we waste their time and end up editing their products out?

Also, Im wondering, is it legal to publish another companies logo? For example, can we print a picture of Maybelline Great Lash Mascara that we took ourselves, or is that some kind of copyright infringement because of the logo, TM, whatever?

[Fiancee]

As far as I have been told in the print jobs I have had before, any photo you yourself take of any product is legal to print. In particular if it is an endorsement of the product or brand you have nothing to worry about, because the brands will be happy to have the coverage.

As for getting in touch with PR agencies about running images of their gowns and other items, they should oblige you as this will be free advertising for their labels. They will probably only request you list the photographer's credits in there if you choose to publish the pics.

Good luck

[kimberwyn]

^Thanks! Should we try to get some sort of release saying we have permission to use the photos they give us? Im just worried about getting sued later on down the road lol.

[Fiancee]

Sure you could just do something simple over emails, getting them to state you have permission and what the terms of the usage of all photos they give you are- specifications, when the terms will change etc. Then print it out and keep a copy of it; should be all you need, but I wouldn't worry too much, like I said, it's not their concern- their concern is getting visibility for their products, which you are giving them.

[YoninahAliza]

So I am looking to start a fashion magazine for my college- or at least an online magazine if the college doesn't want to support it- but I have a few questions.
First off, has anyone ever created a magazine which will only be seen by schoolmates? Was it successful?
Secondly, since this would be a free magazine who should I talk to get funds or would I have to apply for grants or something?
The school which I attend has a great communications, photography and graphic design department so I do think I have that in my favor.
How long does it typically take to start up a magazine? I'm thinking since it is towards the end of the school year (school lets out in May) that I wouldn't be able to publish the first issue until September. Would this be sufficient amount of time to work on the first issue? If I gathered a good group of people who wanted to work on the magazine and we worked on it over the summer could we have it published by September?

[Fiancee]

If it's a free magazine you have two options, one you can register it as a private company and generate the capital you need to fund it by selling advertising space in the magazine. This could potentially prove quite profitable because if your college doesn't have a magazine filling a niche you could make a clean sweep with a lot of advertisers trying to reach the student demographic. You would need to get someone/a team of people who handle the ad sales and who would take it seriously- a magazine like this will succeed or fail based on how well you are filling your pages with ads. One option would be to give the ad team commission on ad sales- I think 12% of sales is standard, but maybe you'd have to ask around in the forums to be sure.
The other option would be to make the magazine a not for profit venture, apply for grants or affiliate yourself with one of the departments in the school (the visual arts, photography, english, communications, journalism, media... it would be up to you depending on what kind of magazine you are looking to make).
If you go for option one you need to be pretty professional about your approach. Either way your magazine has to have a strong mandate (what is your focus, who is your target reader, etc) and one of the most important things you will need (aside from good ad sales) is a strong art department- someone or several people who are good with lay-out and graphic design and know how to make the magazine look really slick and professional.
If you go for option two then it can be more 'grass roots' and street, you don't necessarily have to focus so much on making it something slick. Obviously in this case you aren't trying to woo advertisers with the beauty of your mag, it would be more of a 'made by students for students' thing and you an be more amateur and relaxed about it.
Myself I would go for the first approach because if you are going to go to all the trouble of making a publication, who do things in halves? But it depends on your time commitment. If you produced it as a quarterly thing you could probably balance it with school, although it's still a lot of work... I did that with my first publication and held a full time job over the course of it to help keep it floating, but I had no social life and had to sacrifice a lot. You have to ask yourself how much you want to give I suppose.
I think it is doable by September but your first step would be to define for yourself what kind of magazine you would want to make- take a look at the ones you like and don't like and determine what you want to do with it.
Then you will need to start looking for fellow students or graduates who are interested in launching something like this with you knowing that there will not be much money/any money at all in it for them for the first while at least, but that if done properly it could be something quite successful.
Good luck!

[YoninahAliza]

Thank you so much Fiancee! Your advice was so helpful. I need some more time to think about exactly what kind of magazine I want to make. I have lots of ideas so I think I need think a little bit more about it. However, you brought up several points which I hadn't even thought about. I'm quite lucky to attend a school which has such a great communications and art department so I plan on using this to my advantage!

[vanrijn]

Hi everyone! along the lines of starting a new magazine...
1) how do you go about getting models from the better agencies for editorials?
2) what kind of rates should we expect to pay for new faces or slightly experienced (we won't be hiring anja rubik just yet!)? Do they ever do it for free just to get their models published?
3) Finally, should we expect to have to convince them to work with us as a newer magazine, or will they just be happy to have more business. Just want to know what to expect before we start making calls!

thanks!!!

[prosperk]

The first question the average model booker should ask you is who the photographer is, followed by a demand to know who the stylist is if the photographer's name doesn't ring any loud bells. In other words, booking models is really the preserve of the photographer and, occasionally, if powerful or high-profile, the stylist.

The only time agencies generally do anything "free" is for model tests, when they send girls to photographers they trust *edited* in order to have them photographed for their agency cards and web profiles. Even if you get a girl for a fashion story free of fees because she needs tear sheets and work experience, you will be expected to cover her expenses.

Regarding Question 3, it really depends on who you are and who you know. If you know any model bookers, try chatting them up first. They have have some girls in need of experience and tear sheets. Going to see the agency might be better than cold-calling them as they receive a lot of calls from wannabes, jokers and weirdos.

[vanrijn]

thank you so much prosperk.... **edited**

so if we take out expectations for free shoots, do you have an idea of what we should offer to pay without insulting them? i.e. 200? or more like 500.. again for newer faces

thanks again!

[abacus fever]

Starting out online sounds like the most logical thing to do. Getting people to volunteer - they get exposure and so do you and it's a way of keeping costs to a minimum.

Up and coming people of their trade; fashion students, photography students graphic designers and freelance writers are people who would probably be most willing to contribute to a new online publication.

Also getting members of your local community supporting you - local businesses, such as independent shops, creative venues and galleries as well as musicians, artists.

[Fiancee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanrijn Hi everyone! along the lines of starting a new magazine... 1) how do you go about getting models from the better agencies for editorials? 2) what kind of rates should we expect to pay for new faces or slightly experienced (we won't be hiring anja rubik just yet!)? Do they ever do it for free just to get their models published? 3) Finally, should we expect to have to convince them to work with us as a newer magazine, or will they just be happy to have more business. Just want to know what to expect before we start making calls! thanks!!!

Another option would be to try casting these shoots with 'real girls', or girls who are not yet represented. While I'll admit there can be more risk in doing this, just in terms of you getting a girl who has no idea how to pose or model properly, often this is what you will be getting when you book the 'new face' girls at the agency anyway... and if you are starting out, and have booked a reasonably patient photographer, as long as the girl has a good look, the team can usually work together to get a good result at the end of the day.
I speak from experience because I ran an 'alternative' publication and part of our approach was to represent 'real' people- not in the sense that they were average looking, which they were not. We liked beautiful people in beautiful photos but there was a sense that the faces had more personality and were not all crazy tall, crazy slim and classic looking.

It's not necessarily the IDEAL solution but it's not a bad one. The number of beautiful young girls (and guys mind you!) just walking around in most major cities represents a veritable gold-mine, and if you are plugged in to a good network (even Facebook is a good start) you're sure to find attractive strangers who would not be opposed to the idea of being in a fashion story.

The trick to getting complete strangers involved would be 1) a website or some tangible thing to show them which represents the 'publication' (online or otherwise) that you are hoping to feature them in,
2) other examples of work you or your associates have done (links to photographers or stylists or art directors you have or are working with)
and 3) it helps if you yourself are well presented and very professional- you have a company email with signature, you have business cards, you have an office... and though it's unfair to admit it, it's a big plus if you are a female in this situation, because it is always less threatening.
and lastly your best bet is that the project you are proposing doesn't entail anything particularly untoward or risque, like full frontal nudity, which would be a hard sell to a stranger.

It might sound like more work, but I actually found it otherwise, and it gives your publication an air of originality, because it will be featuring faces that are new, fresh, undiscovered and unusual. And we got the last laugh at our office when, after several years of working in this way, with unknown faces we found on the street, agencies were mailing us their packages and we would frequently have photographers book repped girls free of charge because our magazine was 'good exposure'.

Good luck!